GREAT ACHIEVEMENT BY THE â€œTHEATRE VINGTIEMEâ€ : â€œVERDICT OF SORCERYâ€

â€œVerdict of Sorceryâ€ , written by Carla Tome, is currently on at the Théâtre Vingtième in Paris.
It is a powerful creation which retraces the events of the Salem witch trials that took place at the time of the famous witch hunts of the 17th century, and during which alleged witches were prosecuted by two principal courts (the Court of Oyer and Terminer and the Superior Court of Judicature) and often beheaded for the capital felony of witchcraft. The play also draws its inspiration from the McCarthyism era, which was when a senator started hunting down and prosecuting pro-communists in the United States.

In â€œVerdict of Sorceryâ€ , we are confronted to an ingenious combination of 17th and 21st centuries’ ways of living and social unrest as Matthew, a young high school geek, is accidently brought back to 1692 Salem by alleged witch Anne, serving as proof for the cruel Judge Graystone to condemn her and her family to the gallows. As the suspense grows more and more intense, Matthew, with the help of his friend Eric, must find Bridget, a person he recently cyber-bullied, to apologize to her and stop the terrible sentence by earning her forgiveness.

Two thumbs up for the play’s director, Carla Tome, who directs this amazing drama to fruition by putting together comic, sad and tense moments, as the play progresses to its outstanding final scene, unleashing on its way the humour of modern teens, as well as the genius of the technical team, whose lighting and sound effects contribute in a remarkable way to the foggy, mysterious, heart-rending and comic mood present all along the play.

Mark Oliver Shelton Cresswelle shows his acting strengths as Matthew, the lousy teenager who must help Anne survive in Salem. When on stage, he takes much of the attention, thanks to his expressive talent, change of vocal intonation, and as he involves the audience in the play by making them contribute vocally.
On the other hand, Robert Brazil tackles two characters, as he embodies the determined Judge Graystone, whose speech delivery fascinates the audience.
As for Maja Bieler, she takes on three roles as Matthew’s mother, Bridget and beheaded witch Abigail, and perfectly expresses the distress in which a bullied teen is.
And, last but not least, Aoife Stone gives a flawless performance as Anne, the alleged witch of Salem.

In the end, â€œVerdict of Sorceryâ€ is a fascinating and entertaining play, which uses well the space of the small scene by its spare decorations and fitted roles by the actors. I would recommend any potential viewer to go see it, to not let himself be discouraged by the slightly wrecked look of the theater or the length of the first scene, and to enjoy the Dramaties’ powerful performance , which makes us all ask ourselves the question : â€œCan we allow somebody to suffer, based on lies, false accusations and rumors ?â€